In Newark, Jack Hughes scored a power play goal early in the third period and the New Jersey Devils downed the Colorado Avalanche, 1-0, on Friday night.
“We’re getting comfortable playing tighter games, we’re smarter with the puck,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. “There were too many times last year I talked about our puck management that led to opportunities for the other team to win the game.
“We had a lot of games where we’d be winning by a goal and a penalty may have led to an opportunity for the opponent to tie the game, maybe win it in overtime or a shootout, But I think we’re in a different place.”
Vitek Vanecek made 24 saves in the New Jersey win.
“Let’s enjoy it for the next hour, but then we got to get ready to move on to our next game (against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday),” Ruff said. “We felt this was the right team to play at the right time where our game was at. It was going to test us, and it was going to make us uncomfortable. But we have to be comfortable being uncomfortable, and I felt for the most part we passed that test.”
Pavel Francouz made 22 saves in the AVs loss.
“They have great team speed, good skill, so you’ve got to give them credit; their penalty kill is really good,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “We had too many turnovers. We didn’t do enough to win the hockey game. Tonight, we just didn’t have the jam.”
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